The Way
by Glacia St. Cloud
Summary: Maison Belmonte had a life before the apocalypse. She had friends and family; she watched football on Sundays and even had a fiancé. But then the virus hit and everything fell apart. Maison didn't have her friends or family; she couldn't watch football on Sundays and her fiancé...well, that's a different story. It's all about survival. That's the way the world works now.


_I'm more alive to vibe inside a mansion made of trees,_

 _I do this for a reason that they can't pretend to glean,_

 _I lose myself infused in something more than what they've seen,_

 _I'm not a slave to greed,_

 _I don't embrace your make believe..._

-The Way; **by Zack Hemsey**

* * *

 _"Unknown virus still plaguing the nation..."_

Maison had her eyes glued to the television screen, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. She'd been playing the news for the past hour and a half, hoping it could serve as background noise as she cleaned her apartment. Once the news anchors started talking about the virus, however, Maison had paused. That damned virus, the news of the century. It had the entire nation's attention, that was how bad it was.

 _"...anyone who's showing signs of infection are urged to go to the nearest hospital immediately..."_

A simple press of the TV remote and the news turned off, the screen turning black. That had been riddling every news station for the past month and a half - an unknown virus that no scientist or doctor could seem to dissect. Was it a new flu strain? Was it an already known virus that happened to mutate? Was it something similar to the swine flu? Was it a type of bird flu? Was it bacterial? Was it fungal? What _was_ it? No one seemed to have any answers. Some people - those crazy conspiracy theorists - seemed to believe it was the beginning of biologic warfare. The number of infected people exploded the day the virus made itself known, though no one really knew what was going on then. It continued to go up every day afterward. Doctors and scientists claimed they'd break down the virus, hope to understand where it came from and how it worked. All they seemed to understand was that the virus spread quickly, and once it had a living host, it became extremely aggressive.

The death toll was still pretty low, as far as Maison was concerned, which meant there had to be _some_ progress when it came to keeping the virus under control. Hopefully a vaccination would be distributed some time soon.

The sound of Maison's apartment door unlocking jumped her from her thoughts. Turning from where she stood in the living room, she felt her heart jumping in her chest...until she heard her fiancé's voice. Ian McClellan and Maison Belmonte had known each other since high school, with Maison being a year older than him. By the time Maison was a senior and Ian was a junior, they started dating. It wasn't until the young twenty three year old woman started college, five years after they started dating, that Ian thought it'd be good to propose. The proposal itself was sweet and simple, with Ian doing it at Maison's favorite bookstore. The couple remained engaged for six months, with the young woman wanting to hold off the wedding until she finished college and the two of them had enough money saved up.

"Maison?" Ian called. "Where are you?"

"In here." Maison tried to keep her voice even.

After taking a moment of him putting his stuff down, Ian made his way into the living room. His brows were furrowed and his mouth was pursed. "Is everything OK?" he asked. "You sound a bit off."

With a tight smile, Maison nodded. "I'm fine," she said. "I was just trying to clean before you got home."

A small smile came across Ian's face. "I told you I'd do that when I got off work," he replied. "You didn't have to do that." He only received a shrug in response. At that point, worry started to flicker in Ian's hazel eyes. Whenever Maison started acting a little distant, it usually meant there was more on her mind. "Really, what's wrong?" he pressed. Wrapping his arms around Maison's waist, he pulled her to him, tucking her head under his chin. One of the many things Maison loved about her fiancé was how tall he was. Everything always felt better when he held her like that.

"I was just watching the news," she sighed. "They were talking about the virus again." Maison felt Ian sigh, his arms tightening a little around her waist.

"Don't worry about that," he said firmly. "It's probably nothing. It'll go away in no time, trust me."

It was nice for him to say that, but Maison couldn't help _but_ worry. What if it turned out to be something bigger? Something more dangerous than anyone ever predicted? What was anyone supposed to do then?

 **-TW-**

There were plenty of things Maison _hated_ being right about, and one of those things happened to be the virus. Was thinking about the virus becoming bigger and more dangerous a kind of jinx on everything? Maison couldn't help but partially think that way in the beginning. Once the number of infected people and the death toll started to skyrocket, it seemed plausible that maybe thinking that way had been exactly that. The _second_ everything started spiraling out of control, unfortunately, that was when everyone started panicking. Riots started to spread across the country, police had to get involved but that seemed to only make things worse. News stations would talk about worsening conditions and that made everyone even angrier.

Thankfully, though, the riots eventually calmed down. It had been stated not long after that there'd be special zones the healthy would be sent to, to keep them as far away as possible from the infected. It was also stated that if someone showed even a _hint_ of a fever, they'd be taken and sent away. No one really knew where, but a lot speculated hospitals to receive treatment. Whatever that may be.

Due to the zones being established, that meant a lot of people would evacuate their homes just to go where they were told to go. Maison and Ian had been one of many in the Miami area who had to relocate. It wasn't long after the zones were put into place that all communications were cut. No one had power, which sent everyone into a frenzy. Things were starting to go downhill fast, and there didn't seem to be a way to stop it.

* * *

 **(A/N):**

 **Not my best first chapter, but I'll try and rewrite parts of it at a later time. If you've got any constructive criticism, don't hesitate to let me know, OK? That's important to me.**

 **Nothing in TWD belongs to me. All I own are my characters and the subplots I put in.**

 **I'm hoping to pair my OC up with either Rick or Daryl, though I'm still deciding between the two of them. I'm leaning a little more toward Daryl, only because I really liked how the show had Michonne and Rick get together. If you've got a preference, don't hesitate to let me know.**

 **How many of you saw the 100th episode yesterday? I thought it was OK. The trailers and everything made it a little too hyped for my taste, considering the episode didn't have TOO much action.**

 **Other than that, that's about it.**

 **Thanks a bunch.**

 **Glacia St. Cloud**


End file.
